Choosing to play college basketball close to home has worked exceptionally well for Tyler Dearman ’24.

Along with Southern Guilford High School teammate Julius Burch '24, Tyler has helped the men’s basketball team make steady progress over five years to a possible return to the NCAA Division III Tournament for the first time since 2019.

“I feel like we have the team to do it. Our past teams were really good, but this year I think we can make a deep run in the ODAC (Tournament) and NCAA (Tournament). We have the capability,” says the guard of Greensboro, who leads the team in scoring.

The current Quaker team has been ranked among the nation’s top 10 Division III teams the past nine weeks and is currently No. 9.

Guilford hosts conference rivals Roanoke and Bridgewater in its final two regular season games Feb. 14 and 17. On Saturday, Tyler, Julius, Rob Littlejohn '24 and Kyshon Tate '24, will be honored before their last regularly scheduled home game at Ragan-Brown Fieldhouse.

Tyler and Julius, playing a fifth year and enrolled as master’s students at the College, have helped the Quakers to an 80-25 record overall and 20-3 this season entering the Roanoke contest.

From day one it was Guilford

Stefanie Dearman and husband Michael have followed Tyler’s basketball exploits since he was playing AAU ball at the age of 8. She was there at Southern High games and has been cheering from behind the home bench at Ragan-Brown. They travel to many of the team’s road games.

“We have really enjoyed following the team and bonding with new parents as they come in each year. We’ve become one family,” she says. “It’s been great (this year) to see Tyler and Julius and their teammates do what they love to do and get even better than they were.”

When Tyler chose to play basketball about 10 miles from home, his mom was not surprised. “After visiting all the schools, we said ‘Tyler it’s up to you.’ From day one, he was pretty sure it was going to be Guilford. He said, ‘I think Coach Palombo believes in me.’ He loves the program and the campus,” she says.

Tyler sustained a firm commitment to Guilford for a fifth year of competition while enrolling in the new master’s program in International Sport Management. “He made a decision to be there throughout his academic career,” Stefanie says.

Maturing as an individual and team

As a freshman in 2019-20, Tyler started five games and averaged 11 points and 5 rebounds. The 2020-21 season was reduced to three games with the COVID pandemic lingering. He averaged 13 points as a junior and 17 as a senior. He started every game the past two seasons, and this year he’s leading the team at nearly 20 points per game.

Entering the Roanoke contest Tyler has 1,558 points in his career, ranking No. 10 on Guilford’s all-time men’s basketball scoring list.

“Tyler has really grown as a player and a person,” says Coach Tom Palombo. “He arrived as a good shooter and became an elite scorer and defender. He’s one of the best defenders in our league.”

Tom says having Tyler and Julius as fifth-year players has been critical to the team’s success, “Experience is everything, especially in our league,” he says. “You need veterans and they have been so important for us this season.”

The Quakers have made strides each of the past three seasons, from 18-7 and reaching the ODAC semifinals in 2021-22 to 22-6 and making the ODAC finals last year. The current team is among three nationally ranked ODAC squads at the top of the conference.

Future looks bright

Tyler will complete his master’s degree in August and plans to join other graduate students on an educational trip to Australia and New Zealand in June, which will be his first time traveling outside the United States.

He would like to explore extending his basketball career in the professional leagues, perhaps overseas. Tom says that is a real possibility. Several Guilford players in the Division III era have played professionally.

“We’ve spoken about it recently, and Tyler wants to keep playing,” he says. “There’s a place for him somewhere at a higher level. It could be internationally.”

Whether it's basketball or a job in sports production, following two summers working with the Greensboro Grasshoppers baseball team, Tyler seems to be on the right track.

Stefanie says, “Guilford has prepared him not just for basketball but for whatever comes.”